US Senator Warner aims for meeting of Democrats to discuss Biden candidacy, source familiar says

[July 06, 2024]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Mark Warner on Tuesday was contacting some fellow Democratic senators to invite them to a possible meeting on Monday to discuss President Joe Biden's presidential campaign, a source familiar told Reuters. 

U.S. Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia and Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, holds a hearing about worldwide threats, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S., April 14, 2021. Saul Loeb/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

The source did not elaborate or say whether Warner was trying to organize a group of senators to pressure Biden to quit the race.

The Washington Post reported on Friday that Warner was trying to put together a group of Democratic senators who would ask Biden to end his presidential campaign.

Warner, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee and is a vice chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, is a respected moderate from Virginia. Before being elected to the Senate in 2008 he served as governor of Virginia from 2002-2006.

Aides to Warner were not immediately available for comment. Nor were aides to some top Senate Democratic leaders, including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Chris Reese and Daniel Wallis)

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